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Welcome to Down These Mean Streets, a weekly trip back to the Golden Age of Radio where we rub elbows with the era's greatest private eyes, cops, and crime-fighters. Since 2013, I've been podcasting everything from cozy mysteries to police procedurals, spotlighting characters ranging from hard boiled gumshoes to amateur sleuths. 

Be sure to tune in each Sunday for adventures of a radio detective and the behind-the-scenes stories of their shows. Join me as we spend time with Sam Spade, Johnny Dollar, Sgt. Joe Friday, and more!

  1. All Episodes
  2. 2013
  3. 12

Episode 37 - Crime Takes a Holiday (Nero Wolfe & Sherlock Holmes)

Dec 22, 2013

"Down These Mean Streets" wraps up 2013 with an hour of holiday adventures from two old time radio detectives.  First, Sydney Greenstreet stars as Nero Wolfe in the Christmas crime drama "The Case of the Slaughtered Santas" (originally aired on NBC on December 22, 1950).  Then, John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes rings in...

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Episode 36 - Cairo Capers (Rocky Jordan)

Dec 15, 2013

It's off to Egypt for international intrigue and adventure with Rocky Jordan.  Jack Moyles stars as the American ex-pat and nightclub owner who winds up entangled in the shady underworld of Cairo.  It's a combination of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.  We'll hear Rocky in "The Map of Murder," originally aired on CBS...

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Episode 35 - One Hot Set (Pete Kelly's Blues)

Dec 8, 2013

Jack Webb blends jazz with downbeat crime drama in Pete Kelly's Blues.  This short-lived series spawned an Academy Award nominated film and a TV show.  Webb stars as Pete Kelly, a cornet player in 1920s Kansas City.  Kelly and his combo play in a speakeasy, and Kelly finds all kinds of trouble in the crowd that comes in...

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Episode 34 - Two Fists Full of Dollar (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)

Dec 1, 2013

Academy Award winner Edmond O'Brien starred for two years as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and brought a hard-boiled intensity to the role of "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator."  Today, he's remembered fondly as one of the best Johnny Dollars.  Listen along as O'Brien takes the case (but doesn't take any...

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